Page 127 of Humility

Her hands shook as she covered her mouth, but her eyes were filled with love.

“Jasmine Falcone, my Tiger, you’ve taught me so many things, but the most valuable lesson I’ve learned is that humility is not weakness. You humble me. I love you, I’ve always loved you, and I would be honored if you took my name but married us. This is me placing the decision at your feet. There are no more lies or secrets and I promise nothing will ever come between us. With you, I am rich, without you, I’m half alive. I’m just Angelo.” I nodded to the other two men and caught Dario’s smile.

She opened her mouth, and I held up my finger. “Dario, do you have the box I gave you?”

“Right here,” he said, handing over a small velvet box.

With a snap, I opened the lid for Jasmine. She gasped as she stared at the amber diamond, the same color as her eyes. “Now you can let your heart decide,” I smirked.

“Always an ass. Yes, I will marry you.” She looked at Dario and Enzo. “All of you,” she said, bending over and kissing my lips.

“I promise you, Jasmine, we will build a whole new world together.”

Chapter Fifty-Five

ANGELO

“Did you get everything I asked for?”

Our boots echoed on the stone floor as we traveled deeper into the cavern that Giovanni called The Belly of the Beast. The men he sentenced to the cave never came out, at least not in one piece.

“I did,” he said, his somber voice echoing off the stone.

Every few steps, a guard was stationed, and I knew that even if one of Giovanni’s prisoners made it out of their cell, they would never make it up the steep climb before being shot. Dario and Enzo kept pace a step behind. They had reservations about us coming here, but with Don Falcone notified of my whereabouts, not even Giovanni would try something that stupid. I hoped.

I’d only been down here once a few years ago to watch a man—who had stolen from my father—executed. How times had changed? It had been a month since I was shot, and I’d only seen my father once in that time, but I suspected I would never see him again.

“My son, you look so grown up.” I stared at my father as he waltzed into my hospital room as if he owned it and wondered what the hell he wanted. He was the last person I thought would stop by. “Jasmine, you look ravishing as always.” He walked over to where she was seated and held out his hand.

Nothing in this world could’ve surprised me more than when she closed the book she’d been reading, looked at his hand, and then up to his smug face, but never moved to accept the gesture.

“Why are you here,” Jasmine asked.

Not too long ago, I would’ve been offended as she went on the attack for me, but now…now, I was happy to sit back and watch the show. She was going to eat my father up and spit him out.

My father’s face twisted in confusion. “I’m here to see my son, of course.”

“You mean the son you didn’t want anything to do with until now, when word has spread of our engagement?”

“Where is this aggression coming from? I merely wanted to see my son.”

“No, we don’t need your phony devotion.” Jasmine looked at me. “I’ll come back when your father is gone.” Jasmine stood and walked past my father like he didn’t exist, and I couldn’t help but smile. That was my Tiger. I fucking loved the look she gave me as she walked out the door, and if I weren’t bedridden, I would’ve had her over my lap. Fuck, it was hot.

“What have you said about me?”

The sweet man who had greeted Jasmine was gone, and all that was left was the monster I’d known all these years. I still didn’t know if he abused my mom or if the story of my grandfather was true. I suspected that it may have been my father who hurt her and my grandfather had stopped it, but I didn’t think I would ever know the truth.

What struck me as funny was that his dark and menacing glare didn’t affect me as it once had. I felt no need to prove my worth and didn’t think I was a failure. I also wasn’t worried about any mental or emotional manipulation, which had been his favorite tool. I could see the narcissist that lived under his skin, and I no longer cared. I felt free.

“I have only ever spoken the truth. Why are you here? You made it clear that I’d screwed up for the last time, and you no longer wanted anything to do with me.”

The dark stare turned glacier, and I almost laughed. It was always the same, and why the pattern had eluded me for so long could only be attributed to the fact that he was my father, and I wanted to believe he was a great man.

“I didn’t want anything to do with you for good reason. You’d stolen a precious artifact from another Don. I couldn’t be caught up in your drama. The whole family and our holdings would’ve been called into question. As it was, the humiliation you caused was almost irreparable and I’ve been paying on that debt ever since.” He straightened his suit jacket and dusted off the arms. I would never see him as my father again. “I should’ve known you would find a way to twist your banishment on me. You never could handle true responsibility.”

“The banishment was warranted. You cutting me out of your life, your will, and telling everyone I was dead to you was all so you could play the victim. You never even let me explain what happened, and yet you were happy to send me to Chicago to clean up the mess you created by not looking into the allegations closer. I killed dozens of our men, all of them innocent, because you couldn’t be bothered to do your job. So which of us can’t handle responsibility or consequences?”

“How dare you speak to me like that. I came here to let you know that you have officially been named my succor, and this is how you treat me. Not an ounce of gratitude?”